Mobile Thinking

I purchased two new technologies for my family this Christmas, a new WiFi enabled Roomba and an eero mesh network WiFi router. What do they have in common? They both have simple, elegant and amazing mobile apps that help configure the technology.

This is as it should be.

You see smartphones are not really phones, they are mobile computers. And they are packed with connectivity and sensors. They are superior to laptops because they have many uses and configuring and running your Roomba is a perfect example.

I found it very interesting how useful and easy the mobile app was to configure the eero router. I was simply amazed at how easy it was. It was because of the capabilities of a smartphone and a well designed app that focused on the user setting up a router.

Using mobile apps to interface with hardware is nothing new, but how eero and iRobot did it, was the key. They both created native apps that followed the iOS UI/UX guidelines. That was key. They both knew the main mission of the mobile app was to help consumers setup complex technology. Both companies also spent a great deal of time, money and energy into designing their technology to be able to communicate with a smartphone. That was also a key aspect of the ease of setup and configuration.

Software Ops is currently working with a client who has new technology for an already established market. We are creating elegant mobile apps for this client, I will announce our involvement when they release their product. We are using a combination of beacon technology in conjunction with the “always connected” smartphone to vastly improve the user interaction and expertise with this technology.

Using a mobile app to setup and configure technology is just now impacting every day consumers. I say this, because I’m now seeing, and am involved with companies who are putting in the time, money and energy to do it right.

In my previous post, “Software Is Necessary For Your Business- PERIOD!” I made a case that because we’re living through the fourth Industrial Revelation (IR-4), all businesses need software to stay competitive. This is not an earth shattering claim to anybody in the high-tech industry, it is “obvious” to all.

But, high-tech software based business is not the target of this post. My target is real-world businesses in industries other than high-tech. Industries that interact with the “real world” not just the virtual world. I’m speaking to you… LISTEN UP!

Apple will likely introduce new consumer products along with new versions of all their OSes. All the standard stuff. What I’m looking for is something fantastic like the Swift language introduction two years ago, something that will WOW developers. That something is IoTOS.

What would IoTOS look like and what is the market?

The current situation that all businesses are in is what is being termed the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR-4). It is the revolution of computers, the Internet, mobile, Internet-of-Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/LM)

No business will survive without embracing the IR-4 and that means embracing all things computer and software.

Marc Andreessen of Netscape fame wrote an essay where he coined the phrase, “Why Software Is Eating The World.” The essay claims that software is disrupting business models well outside of traditional software offerings. For years, businesses have utilized software for customer relations, employee management, payroll, and finances. Today, businesses must build custom software that enhances their operations and connects them with their customers. There is no question that Marc is correct with his assessment, we see it all around us. The question is, how does a business that is far from high-tech deal with the current situation?

We are at the beginning of a software development shift that will play out in the next 5 years. Perhaps sooner. The Swift programming language will be a dominant player in cloud services and here is why….

Liberty Industrial Group scaffolding inspection and inventory platform that is.

Software Ops conducted a rollout review with our client Liberty Industrial Group who commissioned Software Ops to build a scaffold inspection and inventory system. The system is design for their staff on location at construction sites and therefore the mobile component is the key to the whole system. We have launched the rollout of the beta to our client. The initial rollout of a project is always interesting because, we deploy the mobile software into the wild for the first time and we see how people really want to use the system.